Coffee Wood ?

[Sawdust Lover]

I have had a few customers ask me if I have coffee wood. I have a chance to buy some coffee trees I guess they are Kentucky coffee trees but they are asking $300.00 per tree. I cant find much info about coffee lumber and have no idea about pricing or how it dries. Has anyone ever sawn this type of wood and is it worth anything?

[Larry]

I've sawn quite a bit up in north Missouri.  Had to watch for shake.  I think the lumber looks similar to red oak only coarser with more flash.

The only market for it up there was pallet logs, so it brought about the same as cottonwood.

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Never heard of it down here but I'm listening. 

[landscraper]

Maybe they are talking about Paulownia - everyone here calls it coffee wood.  It was a hot commodity a while back. High grade logs sold for hundreds plus. I was always told it was exported to Asia for use in ceremonial items.  The craze cooled, just like persimmon and the other fads, plus it is a fast growing tree and high grade logs were few and far between unless you were cutting up in the mountains.

[NWP]

Member Bibbyman had pictures on here a while back of some he had cut.

[NWP]

Member Bibbyman had pictures on here a while back of some he had cut.

Scratch that.  It was red elm I was thinking of.

[thurlow]

Had a large Kentucky Coffee tree blow down on a fence row a few years ago, which I sawed; only pictures I have are of a small log (probably the third log up) on a trailer with a couple of red oak logs and the same cut setting on the carriage;  I stacked the lumber with some red oak and can't find it;  can't tell 'em apart.



 



 

[POSTON WIDEHEAD]

Son of a Gun......that stuff is gorgeous. Do you build furniture with it or what is it's primary use?

[Sawdust Lover]

Thurlow, That is some good looking stuff. I finally found a picture of some coffee lumber and that is what it looks like. Not sure that I want to spend $300.00 per tree with only one good log in it.

[WDH]

It is beautiful wood, looks a lot like sassafras.  I have never sawn or bought any, but $300 per tree sounds way high unless the trees are huge. 

[Meadows Miller]

Coffee and Wood My two favorite things in one    :D

That is some boody nice grain pattern and colour reminds me of Hymalayan Cedar I have milled in the past how dose it saw easy or hard and how dence is it Mate ??

Sawdust lover it all depends what sort of price its going for as to what the trees are worth if its not high return you dont want to sink alot of cash into having something sitting for a long long time but if it has good margin its worth it imho Mate

Regards Chris

[Jay C. White Cloud]

Kentucky Coffee Tree, (Gymnocladus dioicus,) is a funny tree to market.  There is a lot of history in the tree.  Back in the day, "Carpetbaggers," would give the seeds away as gifts for buying their wares.  They called it a Mahogany seed; hence sometimes Coffee Tree is called American Mahogany.  The wood, if of size and quality can fetch some very high prices, just as high as Mahogany.  Prime specimens are sought after by cabinet and furniture makers, specialty floor companies, some wood artisans. 

It is in the Pea family and related to, (mills and acts like,) the Locust Tree species,  I have made tables out of it, and done some timber framing with it.  If I could get good logs, they are worth it, if you have the market.  I would suggest trying to get the owners to hold on just a bit and see if you could find a buyer for the wood.  It is really beautiful when finished.  It may resemble other species when first of the mill, but when finished, it is unique.

Regards,

jay

[harrymontana]

here in Bolivia we have coffeewood and it looks like this:

[Jay C. White Cloud]

That is nice!  The Coffee wood up here can have the patterns of Rose Wood and the color.  It also sometimes, out of nice trees, has what they call "lights," in the wood.  It actually looks prismatic when a light strikes the surface.

[mesquite buckeye]

In Missouri, Kentucky Coffeetree is one of those here and there trees. I've never seen more than one or two together. They have a leaf about 3 feet long, late to leaf and early to drop leaves. You can find them at a distance in the fall by the large pods near the crown of the tree. The seeds are about an inch across and half an inch thick. They make great hotbeans (ask any school kid where they grow).

The wood is supposed to be rot resistant, but what a waste. This is another of our trees that are considered junk, but actually are prime cabinet woods. I would also include honey locust in the underappreciated group, also having showy wood when finished, and black locust, equivalent to teak for use in furniture.    Interestingly, all of these are legumes, along with mesquite, rosewood, mahogany, cocobolo, kingwood, tulipwood, etc. Pretty good company. 

[mesquite buckeye]

Oh, not teak..... it is a mint. :-[

[Sawdust Lover]

Thanks for the great replies! I think I am going to buy the tree just for the learning experiance. I will post pictures when I get it.

[mesquite buckeye]

cool

[samandothers]

Look forward to seeing your pictures.

[Po-Jo]

I beleive they also call these the "royal empress tree" supposedly is full grown in 5 yrs, i got a couple in my yard( not full grown) they are fast growers, I had also read if they are cut down at the stump they will re grow from the stump, wondered why they never tried using them for timber, just cut them and let them regrow without having to replant, would save a ton of labor from that perspective

[mesquite buckeye]

I beleive they also call these the "royal empress tree" supposedly is full grown in 5 yrs, i got a couple in my yard( not full grown) they are fast growers, I had also read if they are cut down at the stump they will re grow from the stump, wondered why they never tried using them for timber, just cut them and let them regrow without having to replant, would save a ton of labor from that perspective

I think you are talking about Paulownia, a native of China. Not the same thing, different plant family.

Kentucky Coffeetree, Gymnocladus, is an American native.

[thurlow]

Found one more picture;  believe it to be of the same log that I pictured earlier;  can't really tell much about it from the picture.



 

[mesquite buckeye]

Reminds me a lot of Acacia wood. Definite reddish cast, red/yellowish striping. You can tell it from oaks easily from the much smaller pith rays in the legumes like KKT.

[WDH]

Very similar wood to chinaberry as well.  Pawlonia is a very bland wood in my opinion.

[Jay C. White Cloud]

Paulownia, (I think it is spelled this way?)  is very bland, almost white in the higher grades..  If you ever get a japanese saw, the handle is made of it.  There are several species throughout Asian, and most have similar uses.

[LeeB]

Very similar wood to chinaberry as well.  Pawlonia is a very bland wood in my opinion.

Thank you Danny. I'm glad somebody else thinks it looks like china berry. Are they related?

[Dodgy Loner]

Maybe they are talking about Paulownia - everyone here calls it coffee wood. 

I'm sure they're talking about Kentucky coffeetree (Gymnocladus dioicus). It's a native species with wood that is very similar to catalpa or sassafras. I agree with WDH - at $300 for a tree, that had better be one big tree.

[Dodgy Loner]

Very similar wood to chinaberry as well.  Pawlonia is a very bland wood in my opinion.

Thank you Danny. I'm glad somebody else thinks it looks like china berry. Are they related?

No, Kentucky coffeetree is in the Legume family, and Chinaberry is in the Mahogany family. I do agree that that picture strongly resembles Chinaberry.

[mesquite buckeye]

Right on Chinaberry with Mahogany in the Meliaceae :-[

Looked up relationships of Legumes with Meliaceae. They are on separate branches of the Rosids, so diverged long ago...... :P